Year C Advent 2 2021 And Now, What You've All Been Waiting For!

 Year C Advent 2, 5 December 2021

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“And Now, What You’ve All Been Waiting For!”

Collect: Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Luke 3:1-6

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,

"The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

'Prepare the way of the Lord, 

make his paths straight.

Every valley shall be filled,

and every mountain and hill shall be made low,

and the crooked shall be made straight,

and the rough ways made smooth;

and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"

I feel like I should do this in an announcer’s voice like at a wrestling match…

Ladies & Gentlemen, welcome and good evening! Have we got a match for you!

First up we have the Emperor Tiberius, in his Fifteenth Year of his reign. All hail mighty, Caesar!!!

And up next, Pontius Pilate, Tiberius’ chosen governor of Judea! 

But let us not forget mighty King Herod, ruler of Galilee, along with his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis!  This will be one to remember, one for the record books!

And let us not forgot, Lysanias, ruler of Abilene! 

And if that lineup were not enough, we have... the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas!

The mighty and the important, they must obviously be where the action is happening. They are the ones who are usually seen as “the Newsworthy.” Even think on that word. The Ones worthy of being in the News. But what may seem obvious, may not be the Truth. While we focus and distract ourselves with the glitterati, the wealthy and the famous, what may be of most importance may be under the radar of the usual outlets.

But how often are the things that mean the most fly under the radar? 

Never forget that on July 4, 1776, supposedly, George III, king of England, wrote in his diary, 'Nothing of importance happened today.’

If you always look where you always look, why would you expect things to be different? But I have often found that God is at work long before we ever shift our attention to what is truly going on.

Luke starts Chapter 3 with this litany of the powerful, the “Newsworthy,” because that is where most of us would tend to look first, and it also gives a very clear context for what is about to happen. 

Chapter 1 had the prophecies of a long desired child that would become John. And the Annunciation to Mary. Chapter 2 has the full inn of Bethlehem, and the Naming of Jesus and him getting lost in Jerusalem as a youth. Then the story skips 18 years, and we learn of where we are in time by giving the overlapping litany of names of the powerful and important. And as noble as they were, Luke puts it this way…

the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,

"The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

'Prepare the way of the Lord, 

make his paths straight.

Not noble. Not Newsworthy. Not clean or respectable or expected. John, the understood-to-be wayward son of the priest Zechariah sets up shop where no one would look for something of note to happen. Along the backwater river Jordan, a loser dressed in a camel’s hair poncho starts speaking words that came to him from God, echoing the prophecies of the prophet Isaiah.

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness,

‘Prepare the way of the Lord,

Make his paths straight.’

What is truly of value, what is truly of note, one must make an effort to see. Some things never change.

Things worth having take time, sweat, and often tears. But it is always worth it. The reason why we speak of the fullness of time in Scripture is because God took the time, made the effort, and labored to give birth to what was most important. God plays the long game, and John announces to those there along the Jordan that it was time to roll up their sleeves for God was about to invite us into the work that the whole of Creation had been groaning to deliver.

"The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

'Prepare the way of the Lord, 

make his paths straight.

Every valley shall be filled,

and every mountain and hill shall be made low,

and the crooked shall be made straight,

and the rough ways made smooth;

and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"

Friends, the hearers of John along the Jordan, and those of us preparing this Advent for the coming of the Lord Christ, both have our work cut out for us. We cannot skimp, or take the easy way out. We cannot set up Potemkin Villages and think that that will cut it. If you are unsure what that is, let me enlighten you.

Grigory Potyomkin was a dashing 18th century Russian nobleman who intrigued in courts, smote his enemies upon the steppes [of Russia]and allegedly wooed Catherine the Great. It was while he was courting his nation's comely Tsarina — at least according to legend — that his name came to forever stand for something insubstantial. For Catherine's 1783 tour of new Russian possessions in the Crimea, Potyomkin endeavored to show her the best face of the empire. As the story goes, pasteboard facades of pretty towns were set up at a distance on riverbanks. At stops, she'd be greeted by regiments of Amazonian snipers or fields set ablaze by burning braziers and exploding rockets spelling her initials; whole populations of serfs were moved around and dressed up in fanciful garb to flaunt a prosperity that didn't exist (later precipitating famine in the region). ...A "Potemkin village" signifies any deceptive or false construct, conjured often by cruel regimes, to deceive both those within the land and those peering in from outside.

http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2008962_2008964_2009010,00.html

Friends, we are called to straighten the Crooked, fill in the Depths, level the bumps, for we are doing it for the King. Catherine the Great may have been tricked, but our King will not. Our task is before us and our work is clear. That is what Advent is. Doing the work of Preparation. Getting ready for the real show which is set to take place.

We sell ourselves short at times, mistaking the prelude for the main event. A story is told about a backwoods boy whose dad heard the circus was coming to town, so he gave him the coins he would need for the admission and sent him off to town. When the boy got to town, he saw people lined up in anticipation on both sides of the main street, and he joined in with them. Curious, excited, but a bit confused about what exactly a circus was, he waited. And what he saw next was beyond the little boy’s comprehension.

He heard the music as the parade approached. There was a band. There were jugglers, and acrobats balancing atop horses, and clowns. There were cages of lions, and handlers leading giraffes and elephants. The boy stood there, mouth agape, in wonder and delight. After everyone was a sweeper to clean up in case any of the beasts had left a mess. The little boy overwhelmed with joy and delight ran up to the sweeper and handed him all his money, saying “Thank you, mister! That circus was AMAZING!” And then he went home thinking these bells and whistles were all that it was.

My heart breaks to tell that story. How many of us live our lives that way, settling for the superficial instead of plumbing the depths available to us? Being in relationship with God through Jesus is not about making us guilty enough to behave. It is not about feeling righteous, or even worse, self-righteous. It is not about a ticket into heaven or a “get out of hell free” card. It is not about having something to do on the weekend. It is about transformation, daily conversion into the likeness of Christ. 

 

Advent is about preparing for the Main Act, and then being not only invited in but onstage and a participant. And while this seems nearly impossible, we are given the easy job. We are called to make ready for the real work that is to be done.

“‘and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”

We are invited to join in the responsibility. We are invited to join in the reward. We are invited to join in the revelation!

While the world sets its attention on the mighty, the powerful, the newsworthy, God was speaking to and through John along the Jordan in the backside of a backwater province on the far end of the Roman Empire. What good could come from there, one might ask. 

Only the voice of one calling out in the Wilderness, “Make way the Salvation of God!” Just that.

This last week I had someone come to our Rule of Life class, and they decided to get things going the next morning doing the Daily Office and they let me know what a great start it gave to their day. For others, the treasures that are in the Book of Common Prayer are unknown. As your priest I need to do a better job in sharing and celebrating these gifts that we have been given. Living out our faith, in all its complexity and fullness, is not a burden but a boon! A gift that affects each and every moment of our lives. 

Whenever I begin work with a new group, one of the first things I remind people is that what you put in is what you get out. If you pour yourself into something, it means more and has more worth to you. As we hear the call of John, what does this look like lived out in your life?

"The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

'Prepare the way of the Lord, 

make his paths straight.

Every valley shall be filled,

and every mountain and hill shall be made low,

and the crooked shall be made straight,

and the rough ways made smooth;

and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"

What crooked thing needs to be straightened out in your life so that you and all in your life can see the Salvation of God? Advent is the time. And NOW is Advent. Amen